Pace to burn – Lewington and Nowell

Mike Stanton looks over London Irish’s Alex Lewington’s, and Exeter Chiefs’ Jack Nowell’s, performances in a Premiership game that will live long in the memory.

Last weekend Exeter Chiefs travelled to the Madejski Stadium to face London Irish on Sunday 11 January for Round 13 of the Aviva Premiership.

Both sides came into the game with something to prove. For Exeter, after an excellent start to the Premiership three straight losses, including at home to Gloucester last week, saw them fall to 6th in the table.

The Exiles, having won their all important clash with London Welsh on Boxing Day, sat in 11th with just three wins in the Premiership this season.

Both sides were looking to their young flyers to see them home to victory. For London Irish, Alex Lewington has been in fine form this season and has caught the eye of many- including one Will Greenwood who has sung his praises on Twitter.

For Exeter they were hoping their England winger Jack Nowell could prove the difference. Having played a key role in Stuart Lancaster’s 6 Nations campaign last year Nowell has returned from injury and has been ever present for the Chiefs.

Both have notched up four tries to their names this season prior to this game and Alex Lewington was relishing the opportunity to play against the England man, lining up opposite him for the game.

 “I am a big fan of Jack’s,” Lewington said. ‘I was really happy for him when he got his England call up last year in the Six Nations.

“He fully deserved it, he is a great player. For me it is always great to test your self against the inform players in the Premiership and he is certainly one of them.”

The game that followed was certainly one to advertise the brilliance of the Premiership. It had everything, six tries, bonus points and a last play drop goal to win the game.

Irish outscored Exeter by four tries to two but the boot of Gareth Steenson kept Chiefs in the contest and put them ahead with three minutes to go. But in the last play of the game Shane Geraghty slotted a drop goal to claim a famous win for the Exiles.

Out of the two young wingers it was Lewington who had the better performance. Although he suffered from some early stumbles under the high ball, spilling two in his own twenty-two, he always looked a threat with the ball in hand.

Lewington showed his class and eye for the try line to claim London Irish’s third try. An inside ball from Fergus Mulchrone gave the winger a sniff of the line and, under strong pressure from the Exeter cover defence, he finished with style, reaching out to the line to claim the try. A great finish.

Watching the two players do battle opposite each other it is clear how similar they are. Both have out and out pace, electric feet and both are strong in contact. They are both clearly hungry, coming off their wings in search for the ball and not afraid to crash the ball up and set up a platform for their side and as handy in defence as they are in offence.

Of all the wingers on display, however, it was the more experienced Topsy Ojo who had the stand out performance. The veteran winger, London Irish’s all time top try scorer, was simply magnificent. A rock under the high ball, cutting the Chiefs defence open with ease and playing a key role in all four tires, including adding his weight to the driving maul that sent Blair Cowan over for the first try of the game.

The former England man was named man of the match, and rightly so, but for the two young wingers in question Lewington had the better day. We all know the class of Nowell and his ability to cause havoc on opposition defences but on a cold afternoon in Reading he saw very little ball. His defence, as always, was impressive but we were not treated to the sight of seeing the Exeter man flying down the wing.

Nowell has already proven himself on the international stage, and Lewington is quickly grabbing the attention of many in the rugby world. Add to these two the likes of Christian Wade, another young English winger who did not feature in Start Lancaster’s squad, and we see the strength in depth England has on the wings, and the promise the future holds.